Dreaming Big
by leDia-chan
Summary: Harry didn't just visit King's Cross when he was 'killed' in the Forbidden Forest: he is thrown into an world where the only way out is finding the real secret behind 'the power he knows not'. A cloak, a sword, a city, an ultimatum and a locket are all pieces of the puzzles, but some puzzles can't be solved. AU & DH-Compliant.


**His muscles jerked and spasmed, before he took in a shuddering breath and opened his eyes. The morning light seeped in through the window, keeping him from even considering falling back into blissful sleep. He relaxed back into the blankets, drowsy but content.**

**Until he remembered.**

**Panicked, he stumbled out of bed to stand in front of the window, staring at his hands. Flexing one experimentally, he glanced up at the glass in front of him and grinned.**

**His fisted hand reached to the glass, and then tugged back as if pulling on a non-existent rope.**

**The glass buckled and bent towards him, seeping around the metal crossbars. When his fingers splayed out, the glass shattered into thousands of brilliantly lit pieces. **

**But something was off with how this glass broke; it was slow as if falling through honey, and parted around him just barely, skimming his skin like cool fingers.**

**He grinned and turned away from the window, ready to continue on with his life in a new way. A way he had never imagined even being possible.**

"**I'm ready."**

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><p>Hello all, and welcome to my newest project: Dreaming Big (Tentative Title). Please note, this is NOT a crossover with Inception. I saw a mash-up trailer with HP clips and the Inception trailer soundtrack, and the way it was edited inspired this little… coughs excuse me… big story. Once again, this is NOT a crossover, and is instead borrowing a few themes from Inception. This is just a preview chapter, to see what interest is before I really get set on writing the entire thing. I'm planning on writing the whole or a majority of the story before I begin posting and chapters, to make updating faster.<p>

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><p>"<em>Avada Kedavra!"<em>

Harry's world exploded in a burst of brilliant emerald green light, his vision sweeping away like it was a pensieve memory. The green of the killing curse began to distort and mix with duller colors, before it was washed away and replaced with a shockingly realistic scene.

A train whisked by, sending him reeling back from the edge of the platform he found himself on.

He looked up and down the station, finding only empty black benches and a few scurrying people who were hunched in on themselves.

Seeing no memory-person to draw his attention, he cautiously walked down the platform. He shivered and rubbed his arms to try and gain some form of warmth, as the train station was strangely cold.

After a while of walking down the seemingly never-ending platform, he sighed and leaned his forehead against a frosty window separating where he was standing from passing trains.

Another train zipped past, and through the hazy glass he saw a white form suddenly... be there. Nothing had been where the man was standing now just before the train went by. Harry rubbed at the frost with a worn sleeve, and blinked at what he saw.

In the split second his eyes were closed, he had somehow appeared next to the man.

"P-Professor… I…" Twinkling blue eyes turned to look at him.

"You know I am dead, Harry. You saw the Killing Curse hit me, didn't you?"

At a loss for words, Harry simply stared at his _still _deceased mentor (which was a strange thought in and of itself), his mouth hanging open.

"Is this a dream?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore's eyes began to twinkle more, and he chuckled.

"That is a very good question, my dear boy. Sadly, this is no more a dream than it is a reality." Dumbledore paused and looked pointedly at Harry.

"So, if this is not a dream… or real life… then where are we?"

"That is for you to decide, after all, when you are here, anything is possible." Dumbledore turned back to the tracks, his hands folded behind his back as if patiently waiting for the train.

"Am I dead?" Harry asked tentatively.

"Oh no, my boy. You are anything but… at the moment." Harry felt anger seep into his mind at Dumbledore's added statement. Had he hidden another thing from Harry?

"Is there something you are still hiding from me?" Harry ground out, trying to control the negative emotion. Dumbledore turned back to him, the sparkle in his eyes no longer there.

"I am sorry for not telling you about the prophecy earlier. If I could erase any one of my many mistakes, it would be that. Sadly, Fate has one last task for you, one last thing to do before you can go back and complete the first step to your destiny."

"I thought killing Voldemort was my destiny? And what do I have to do? I don't want to let him wreck havoc with my 'death' ."

"No… there is something far greater out there that you must do. But what that is, you have to find out for yourself. To answer your last question before I send you on your way, when you are done with this… task… you will return to your original body mere moments after you were struck."

"Then send me."

"There is but a few… guidelines I must tell you of before you leave here. The first is that you must avoid being killed at all costs, as it will severly hurt your progress. Second, the powers in this place you will be going will be greatly exaggerated, even your own, so do not underestimate your enemies or even your allies. Finally, you will find someone to confide to in the least expected place. With those words, I will bid you goodbye." A train screeched to a halt in front of them, and one of the doors opened with a hiss.

"Guidelines? What…"

"Don't be afraid to dream a bit, ah… shall we say, bigger?" Dumbledore firmly guided him into the train, before stepping back out.

"Wait!" Harry called, rushing for the door as it slid closed. He opened a window and poked his head out.

Dumbledore was gone.

With a heaving sigh, he stood back in the middle of the empty train which jerked at it started, and contemplated what Dumbledore had said.

Suddenly, Harry was thrown back onto the metal floor as the train lurched into an even higher speed. His vision began to smear and become distorted as he struggled to stand up again. With a jerk he realized he had forgotten to ask how he had _not _been killed by the Killing curse, or even what his task was.

The world around him suddenly pitched and was replaced by yet another scene, and Harry was thrown onto hard ground face first.

His adrenaline spiked as a great rush of noise met his ears; a mix of yells and explosions.

He struggled to sit up, but flattened back to the ground instantly when he saw what he had fallen into.

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><p><strong>Well? What do you think? Please drop a review and let me know! <strong>


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